When Pablo graduated from university, he was faced with a challenging job market and soon realized his traditional business degree wouldn’t be enough to land the worthwhile job he had aspired to. A few years later, Pablo was working as an administrator at a non-profit. The organization was in desperate need of a new website, so Pablo decided to take on the challenge to learn to code and build it for them. The project was a success and sparked the beginning of a significant career change for Pablo. He began to see the web industry as an opportunity for an intriguing and well-paid career.

Pablo joined Treehouse and excelled through the beginner to advanced courses, building up a solid understanding and breadth of coding skills. Pablo’s career has evolved drastically since then. First he worked in the marketing department for a tech company, and now he’s a full-time web developer at a creative agency. Today, Pablo has not only found the career he was striving towards but is now being paid to do something he loves.

We asked Pablo to share his inspiring story with the Treehouse community.

Treehouse has been invaluable to me. I love what I do and I am extremely lucky to get paid to do it. I also feel deep satisfaction as a result of learning it all on accounts of my own efforts, thanks to Treehouse.

What first drew you to the web industry?

After graduating into a bleak job market in 2010 from a four-year university, I knew that my business degree alone was not enough to land me a worthwhile job. I saw the web industry as a place where I could excel career-wise and in pay scale. The web industry was also very intriguing and exciting. I was drawn to the thought of being able to turn something as dry as numbers and functions into a visually-appealing and useful design to share with the world.

What work were you doing when you first joined Treehouse & what encouraged you to learn with us?

When I first joined Treehouse back in March of 2012, I was a Programs Coordinator for a local non-profit arts organization. The non-profit was looking for a cost-effective way to launch a new website so I took it upon myself to learn about the web and how it all worked. After building a simple site on WordPress for them, I was further intrigued about the languages that made it all work together. It was then when I used Treehouse to learn about HTML and CSS as well as Adobe’s Illustrator.

Treehouse made it very simple and appealing to learn. They had very easy to follow video lessons as well as practical quizzes and exercises along every step. Their clean and simplistic design made it very easy to navigate along their learning Tracks; it was never intimidating to click on a new lesson and learn a new programming language.

You recently landed an exciting new job as a web developer. Tell us a little about how your career has evolved since learning with Treehouse and the work you’ll be doing now.

Since learning with Treehouse I’ve evolved from working with a non-profit in an administrative role to working in the marketing department for a tech company, to now solely focusing on web development with a creative agency. I know that without Treehouse’s How to Make a Website, CSS Basics, and Illustrator Foundations lessons, I would not be where I am now. In my new role as a web developer, I get to focus on working with a team to design and create websites for clients to better their web presence.

Since learning with Treehouse I’ve evolved from working with a non-profit in an administrative role to working in the marketing department for a tech company, to now solely focusing on web development with a creative agency.

What has the value of a Treehouse education meant to you?

In a monetary sense, the value of Treehouse has meant a significant jump in pay scale for me. It’s been a ten-fold return on my investment. In a practical sense, Treehouse has been invaluable to me. I love what I do and I am extremely lucky to get paid to do it. I also feel deep satisfaction as a result of learning it all on accounts of my own efforts, thanks to Treehouse.

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Is there any advice you’d like to share with new students who are just starting out?

Do not be intimidated by coding. As any new language, you have to put in time and effort to learn the basics yet learning to be a web developer can prove to be the perfect blend of creativity and logic. If you are just starting out, do not be afraid to fail. Do not restrain your creativity because you think it is not good enough. Great ideas come from everywhere. Make mistakes.

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